Opinion: AU should modify meal plans for the fall semester
Students shouldn’t pay full price for a devalued meal plan
Courtesy of Isabelle Kravis
By Isabelle Kravis | June 26, 2020
AU’s official plan for reopening in the fall, aptly named “AU Forward,” rolled out to numerous complaints about a variety of proposed changes. From upperclassmen not being housed on campus to large classes being held in online formats, it would appear that students will be welcoming a completely revamped college experience in the fall. But, what I, and many of my classmates have seen, is that there appears to be virtually no changes to the dining plans for this modified semester.
Most of the plans haven’t changed, with all residential freshmen being defaulted to the 175 block plan, and residential sophomores being defaulted to the 100 block plan. Prices of the plans and what is included in the packages are staying the same. A big difference students may notice is that the All Access Plan was removed for the Fall 2020 semester.
Costing $2,442 per semester, the 175 block plan includes 175 meal swipes/exchanges and $400 Eaglebucks. This would be ideal for a normal semester, when TDR is all-access and all-you-can-eat. But for the Fall 2020 semester, TDR will be offering limited seating with packaged meals, far different from the buffet-style dining seen in previous years. This means that meal swipes aren’t worth as much as in previous years, when students could spend the entire day in TDR for the cost of one swipe.
With freshmen still having access to the community kitchens that are located in residence halls, they won’t be forced to get their meals from a campus vendor, which might help to reduce exposure to the coronavirus. Instead of going to TDR or a campus restaurant, they may choose to buy ingredients from stores, on and off campus, using Eaglebucks or personal cash.
The University will also be ending the on-campus semester two weeks early, leaving students with less time to utilize their meal plans.
With the changes to TDR, the fall calendar and freshmen housing, the University has a responsibility to modify the current meal plans to ensure that students are getting the most out of their plans.
One suggestion, brought up by rising School of Education freshman Elizabeth Municchi, would be to convert some of the 175 meal swipes to Eaglebucks. “Since students are less likely to be using meal swipes in TDR, they’d probably rather spend money at grocery stores because it’s less likely they’ll catch the virus there compared to a dining hall,” she said.
Forcing students to pay full price for a meal plan that has decreased in value is ridiculous. The University is expecting students to pay for a meal plan structured for a pre-COVID-19 campus, not for the modified campus we’ll meet in August. The University must modify the current meal plan structure for the Fall 2020 semester.
Isabelle Kravis is a freshman in the School of Communication and an assistant editor for the copy section.